


Stay with me

by MikazukiMunechika305



Category: Hakuouki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-08 23:31:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5517194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MikazukiMunechika305/pseuds/MikazukiMunechika305
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>{"I can be your friend, Shiranui, like Takasugi was. You just have to tell me to stay."}</p><p>The war is over, and Shiranui ends up visiting Takasugi's grave. He hasn't expected the feelings that are overcoming him, and what surprises him the most is who apparently has followed him there.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay with me

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. I don't own either Hakuouki or the song "Stay with me" by Danity Kane!
> 
> 2\. I know that Shiranui is really out of character here. Please don't judge me for it, because I tried to imagine what his other "softer" side would be like... ...and this is what it ended with. So please don't be angry at me for changing his personality completely!

**Raindrops fall from everywhere. I reach out for you, but you’re not there.**

_“Shiranui. Yo, Shiranui.”_  
_He looks up to see the blond boy smile at him. “Takasugi. What’cha doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be resting in your bed?”_  
 _“I’m fine,” Takasugi replies and sits down next to his friend. “What are you doing here? Why are you alone? I’m sure the others would keep you company if you asked them.”_  
 _“I wanted to be alone. I wanted to watch the cherry blossoms.”_  
 _The blond boy lies back on the grass and closes his eyes. “The cherry blossoms, huh… You know, we humans are like them, aren’t we?”_  
 _“What do you mean?”_

**So I stood, waiting, in the dark. With your picture in my hands, story of a broken heart.**

_“We begin to live, then, we have a short time blooming and when time passes, we scatter… just to bloom again later.”_  
_Takasugi probably is right. He’s young, but his tuberculosis has taught him things about the human body and humans in general that Shiranui never has had a possibility to learn about._  
 _“You demons live much longer, right?” the boy asks, opening his eyes to look at Shiranui. “You’ll still be alive in a hundred years, won’t you, Shiranui?”_  
 _“…I probably will,” he nods, sighing. He doesn’t want to. He wants to stay with Takasugi… or Takasugi to stay with him._  
 _Takasugi is the first human, the first person he has ever met he can completely trust with his life._  
 _But he’s going to die. He suffers from tuberculosis, and everyone knows it. And it makes Shiranui’s heart hurt as if it’s going to break apart._

**Stay with me, don’t let me go—‘cause I can’t be without you. Just stay with me and hold me close, because I built my world around you. And I don’t want to know what it’s like without you… so stay with me—just stay with me.**

_“No. No, you can’t die now!” he screams—he screams like he has never screamed before._  
_Because his heart hurts so much. Because he doesn’t want this to happen. Because this is the worst that could ever happen to him and to Takasugi._  
 _“Shi-Shiranui… I’ll be there… I won’t leave you… I’ll… be okay,” the boy whispers, and now he just looks like a weak, easily destroyable human._  
 _Like a person he has never been…_  
 _…until now. The tuberculosis is slowly destroying him._  
 _And Shiranui hates having to watch him die. But he has promised not to leave him until Takasugi is dead, so he can’t leave now._  
 _His heart breaks apart when his best friend coughs up even more blood, but he can’t do anything but watch him._  
 _It hurts so much._  
 _“Don’t leave me. Please, Takasugi, don’t leave me.”_  
 _“Idiot,” the young, weak, ill human smiles, his face stained by blood and tears of pain. “I won’t leave. I’ll always be there.”_  
 _Then, he coughs a last time and with a smile on his face, he closes his eyes…_  
 _…and his breath stops._

**I’m trying and hoping for the day when my touch is enough to take the pain away.**

Seeing him like this hurts.  
‘He has saved me,’ is what Harada always thinks. ‘I can’t just let him stay there on his own.’  
And that’s why he has come to visit Takasugi’s grave. He hasn’t known this man who has probably died younger than he is now, but it has been Shiranui’s best friend and Shiranui has saved him.  
“I owe you something,” he whispers, respecting the silence around himself and his rival. “Tell me what you want me to do, then I’ll leave you alone.”  
Shiranui doesn’t turn around. His shoulders shake, but it’s such a small movement that you can only see it when you have really good eyes.  
Harada can see it. His eyes are still good enough to see the sadness that has overcome him.  
Then, the demon gets up, quietly. He doesn’t say anything.

**‘cause I’ve searched for so long, the answers is clear. We’ll be okay if we don’t let it disappear.**

“As long as you keep remembering him, it’s okay. You don’t have to always keep up that sarcastic personality. Takasugi wouldn’t have wanted that, too.”  
It’s nothing but the truth, and both of them know it.  
It’s hard for Shiranui to let his masquerade fall down, but it also is what he needs right now. He is sure that in front of Harada, who is so similar to Takasugi, he can show how he really feels.

**Stay with me, don’t let me go—‘cause I can’t be without you. Just stay with me and hold me close, because I built my world around you. And I don’t want to know what it’s like without you… so stay with me—just stay with me.**

Shiranui stretches out his hands for the only person he has left. Until now, he has never felt the desire to be comforted and loved by a person, even if it’s a human, so much—but he is sure if it’s Harada, the man will understand what he wants even if he doesn’t say it.  
Harada does. He knows a lot about people and in some situations, demons and humans aren’t that different.  
He approaches his rival slowly and wraps his arms around his shoulders. “If you want me to, I’ll stay. I owe you something after all.”  
“…I want you to return,” Shiranui says with a hoarse voice. “I want you to return to your friends as long as you still have the chance to.”  
“To them, I’m dead. I can’t.”  
“To me, you aren’t. You aren’t dead in general.”  
“Because of your powers. If I told them… it’d be no good. I’ll stay. If you want me to.”  
The demon shakes his head, “No. I don’t want you to. I want you to go back. You said you owed me something.”  
“Because I do.”  
“Then I want you to go back.”  
“That’s the only wish I won’t fulfill,” Harada explains. “You can wish for everything else, but I won’t return.”

**I’ve searched my heart over so many, many times. No you and I is like no stars to light the sky at night. Our picture hangs up to remind me of the days… You promised me, we’ll always be and never go away—that’s why I need you to stay!**

Takasugi would’ve said exactly the same thing. Knowing this hurts even more.  
“He’s dead,” Shiranui mumbles, as if to calm himself down. “He’s not here. He’ll never be here again.”  
“That’s not true,” Harada argues and places one hand at Shiranui’s chest. “He’s here. He’ll always be here, as long as you remember him. Won’t he? Isn’t this the basic of being friends? That you think of the other when he’s not with you?”  
“…Why?”  
“‘Why’ what?”  
“Why are you saying this to me?”  
“Because I’m not your enemy. I can be your friend, Shiranui, like Takasugi was. You just have to tell me to stay.”  
Shiranui knows that he needs him to stay. He knows that there is no other way to find back to his former self.

**Stay with me, don’t let me go—‘cause I can’t be without you. Just stay with me and hold me close, because I built my world around you. And I don’t want to know what it’s like without you… so stay with me—just stay with me.**

“…Stay,” he whispers quietly. “But don’t you dare complaining about anything I do. You’re not allowed to leave me. This was your own decision.”  
Harada smiles and nods, “As you wish. This is what I owe you for saving me, after all. I won’t leave you.” He stretches out his right hand. “Come on, let’s make a pinkie promise.”  
“That’s embarrassing.”  
“Nobody’s here.”  
So they make their pinkie promise. A promise to never leave each other alone. A promise to stay together as long as they live. A promise to protect each other, watch each other’s back in fights.  
A promise to become friends like Takasugi and Shiranui have been.

**Don’t leave… So I stood, waiting, in the dark…**


End file.
